The Health Huns
The Messy Side of Health and Fitness!
Your favourite amateur athletes keeping it real, discussing the messy side of health and fitness
The Health Huns
EP.9 Soak Your Beans and Empty Your Wallet: The Wellness Grift
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Wellness sounds like it should be a universally good thing, right? Who wouldn't want to be "well"? Yet beneath the serene Instagram aesthetics and expensive product lines lies a troubling reality that we're diving into headfirst.
This episode unravels how the wellness industry has essentially rebranded toxic diet culture with a fresh coat of paint and a significantly higher price tag. What began as perhaps genuine interest in holistic wellbeing has transformed into a multi-billion pound machine that creates problems, then conveniently offers costly solutions. We explore how wellness has become inherently elitist—predominantly marketed toward white, middle-class women with disposable income and spare time—while excluding those without the resources to participate in this exclusive club.
From £8,600 necklaces recommended for hiking to coffee enemas, barefoot shoes, and the concerning "food is medicine" doctrine that can delay people seeking actual medical care, we're pulling back the curtain on wellness culture's darker side. We also examine how wellness looks different across gender lines, with men's wellness often focused on "primal" activities and masculine energy rather than elaborate skincare routines.
Most importantly, we offer our own definition of what genuine wellbeing might look like: accessible to everyone regardless of income level, individualized to your needs, complementary to evidence-based care, and actually reducing stress rather than adding to it. Sometimes the most radical act of self-care is giving yourself permission to enjoy simple pleasures without the pressure of optimization.
Join us for this eye-opening discussion that might just change how you view that next wellness trend flooding your social feeds. And remember—if something meant to improve your wellbeing is causing you more stress, maybe it's time to cut that shit out.
I've never soaked a bean in my life.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't completely say I haven't.
Speaker 1:but Hello and welcome to the Health Huns, the pod where we discuss the messy side of health and fitness.
Speaker 2:From gym fails to newfound communities.
Speaker 1:We're here to help you feel like less of a failure and find your place in the messy world of health and fitness.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Health Hunts.
Speaker 1:Bringing to you the hot topics.
Speaker 2:The yes, that was new, I know.
Speaker 1:I don't know where that came from. You threw me there. I don't know. I tried. What we're talking about this week. What we're talking about this week today we're talking about wellness.
Speaker 2:What is it well? Well, what the?
Speaker 1:hell is wellness.
Speaker 2:Hopefully, by the end of this episode, we will be somewhat closer to actually knowing what wellness is and maybe what it is disguised as, because we've done some actual research. We watched three minutes of a ted talk. We've eaten a beige buffet.
Speaker 1:We looked at google ai this is what you can expect from your favorite podcasters winging it absolutely um so re scale of one to ten. How has your week been?
Speaker 2:oh, my week has been an eight again I'm gonna go for an eight wow I'm excited for life. Why? Because we're organizing things. I've got things. Like I said last week, there's things to look forward to. I'm looking forward to our run on saturday are you? I am, yeah, okay, I got a new vest, so I'm gonna be wearing that. I'm gonna be wearing my new vest. Lovely, I haven't yet got a watch, okay, but I think I might just go and buy one, like tomorrow. Yeah, full price, not a vintage one.
Speaker 1:Wow, look on facebook marketplace. I've seen loads of garments on there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just need to stop being so trusting, I think, on facebook marketplace have you had some bad experiences but what if? One day I do and I never come back.
Speaker 1:That is true marketplace.
Speaker 2:Killer is a Netflix documentary waiting to happen. I don't like it.
Speaker 1:No, I was talking to Chloe about it, okay. And uh, she was like look, if you want to get something from Facebook marketplace, I'll come with you and I'll go and talk to them and get it. Did she not trust you? Well, no, she was like if you just don't, because I'm I don't like talking to people. So she offered to do the grown-up thing for me.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's not the talking to people. It's like just what if I get killed? Nah, what if I end up in their basement for 30 years?
Speaker 1:No, I bet there's very few cases where that's happened that we know of.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, anyway. Eight out of ten a week. Everything's been good. I'm on top of my game, I'm organised, no procrastination. It's been a bit hot, but apart from that, always good. How about?
Speaker 1:you? I mean, I would say, probably about a seven. It's been okay. It's been fine. It's been too hot, but I've managed to go for a few runs. I've done a run on the treadmill. I am not looking forward to our run on Saturday, but I'm sure it'll be okay. I've actually decided I'm going to do this fits in quite well, so I'm going to do some yoga in the morning. Mm-hmm Okay, Because sometimes my legs feel a bit like stiff.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So on YouTube there is a yoga woman called Yoga with Adrian and she does a yoga runners thing.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to do that in the morning and then get in the car and probably seize up by the time I get there. Yeah, but yeah, everything's fine. I've had a real good deep clean of the house today, so that makes me feel happy. I've had a real good deep clean of the house today, so that makes me feel happy. Just need to change the bed, finish hoovering upstairs and my house is perfect. So, yeah, maybe even an eight. An eight it's ended on a good thing, because a clean house for me is a happy house.
Speaker 2:Well, I came in mid clean because I was a bit early and I picked up Astrid. And then, after I came in clean, astrid did a wee early and I picked up Astrid and then, after I had my clean, astrid did a wee wee on me on the floor, yes, so I do apologize for that.
Speaker 1:Gonna have to get my. Gonna get my vax spot wash cleaner out on me, on you, yeah, yeah right, it's a big one.
Speaker 2:We say this every week this is so.
Speaker 1:I would say this topic actually kind of went in a bit of a direction from what I thought it was going to go into, but it is very well. I mean, it makes sense to me Now we've delved into the darkness of wellness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is going to be a bit of a conspiracy episode, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, it is Just bear with us Conspiracy episode, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it is Just bear with us. So the definition of wellness that I found on Google AI Wellness is an active lifestyle that incorporates several components that affect health.
Speaker 2:That sounds pretty simple, right. It does sound pretty simple Seven-year-old could say that, yeah, and it also sounds much like definition of health. Yes, it does, it's, it's um, it seems simple and it seems lovely, doesn't it? It seems wholesome and like it's good for you, and that wellness can't be bad, surely, surely, surely, wellness is something we should all embrace and get involved in and try and incorporate into our lives, and it can only be good. Yeah, wrong.
Speaker 1:I mean, who is wellness for? Who is wellness for?
Speaker 2:I they would like you to think wellness is for everyone. Mm-hmm, but actually, from our research and actually when you think about the kind of wellness-y content you get on social media, you could probably argue it's for white, middle-class women, yeah, who have resources, extra time, the ability to do all these things. Mm-hmm, yeah, I think. In my opinion, on wellness, it is just a disguise for toxic diet culture. Wellness, it is just a disguise for toxic diet culture. It's just changed its name, had a bit of a zhuzh up of its branding, but it's still pushing similar negative messages. When you get underneath the surface of it all, wellness is thinness yeah, what did I say earlier?
Speaker 1:elitist fat phobic and ableist pretty much. Yeah, there are some good parts of it, I'm sure and I'm sure that once upon a time wellness did start off in a good place. But, like everything, when money is involved, a lot of money, because you know, when people are on the quest of wellness, they will spend whatever they can to look young, be thin Be accepted. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Be better than other people. Yeah, there is a lot of that. When you watch someone who's giving or portraying this certain lifestyle, there's a lot of undertones of I am better than you because I am doing xyz. Yeah, aspirational, isn't it?
Speaker 1:it is aspirational and you know, even I I'm like, oh, maybe I should do this, maybe I should do that also. I'm lazy and I'm probably never going to do any of those things.
Speaker 2:But you can still watch this stuff and feel bad about yourself for not doing it. Absolutely so. That's what wellness is all about, isn't it? Oh these, yeah, just feel bad about yourself. Feel even worse about yourself than you already did, yeah, and then you're partaking wellness a perfect.
Speaker 1:So what if you were?
Speaker 2:to define what wellness should be about enjoying what you're doing, enjoying your life, finding things that fill you up, maybe doing some of the harder things for yourself which are going to be good for you in the long term, and not panicked about doing this and trying that and buying this new thing and feeling like you're a failure if you haven't got a 12-step skincare routine. Yeah, just relaxing wellness to me is just being chill and doing what fills you up I hadn't even thought of skincare as being wellness but it's a massive.
Speaker 1:I mean it's a massive thing and actually what I mean I clean? I cleanse my face every now and then. I do cleanse my face every day. Sometimes I use moisturizer, sometimes I don't. It's pretty much it. I did. I did use retinol for a bit and it did make my skin nice, but really I have clients and they have like 10 year olds that have a 10 step skincare routine and they shop in space nk and they're 10 years old?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's not. Is it wellness, though? How is that? Would it be sold to us? You know you feel having good skin is good for your health, or is it having good skin makes?
Speaker 1:you look better makes it better.
Speaker 2:You're gonna attract more people. Blah, blah, blah, blah blah. And also that's expensive. Yeah, not every 10 year old parents can afford a 10 step skincare well, I think this is the thing, isn't it like?
Speaker 1:this is where wellness is very elitist, because, really, if you are going to throw yourself in and become a wellness guru, you need a lot of money because even you look at the nutrition or the way these wellness people eat, it's all organic and raw or handmade from scratch.
Speaker 2:You're soaking your own beans, for fuck's sake. Yeah, who has time to soak beans? Someone who doesn't probably have a job?
Speaker 1:I've never soaked a bean in my life. Well, I can't.
Speaker 2:I can't completely say I haven't. But anyway, back to the topic moving on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you have to buy these like whole foods in this particular shop or in this particular country costs money, yeah, a lot of money, and eating organic homegrown, even the whole thing now, with everybody growing their own vegetables, even that if you haven't got a garden and you haven't got the time, like, yeah, it's great if you do have all of that, but the sun doesn't hit at the right time.
Speaker 2:Oh god, it's gonna stress you out, and this is what I. This is what I'm trying to get out. When you said what's your definition of wellness? If something is stressing me out but in the quest of making me feel better, that makes no sense to me, because that's broken sometimes building a habit can be hard, but it shouldn't stress you out no, and wellness should not leave you stressed or broke or broke or feeling worse by yourself. Yeah, what about you? What do you think what's wellness for you?
Speaker 1:oh, wellness for me is just living my life. Yeah, being chill, um, I don't know, I I've never really, I've never really thought about it as in like what is wellness?
Speaker 2:because I don't, I don't think wellness particularly interests me and that's what I think is interesting about wellness as a concept. Wait, with the diet, with diet culture and stuff, there's a clear goal and that clear goal is to be thin. Yeah, every like that's what people are pushing, working towards that. You know that makes sense.
Speaker 1:I guess the difference is wellness. It's like your spiritual well-being, your insides and your outsides you're selling the lifestyle?
Speaker 2:yeah, but what? How do you know when you've reached that? I'm into wellness? Okay, but what do you mean by that?
Speaker 1:yeah, you're into what exactly? Yeah, I'm, I am not into wellness, I'm not into wellness.
Speaker 2:I think it's boring.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be well. No, no, it's not for us. I just want to be happy, and no, it's not for us.
Speaker 2:I just want to be happy and have an all right life, and that is wellness to me, in whatever way and I think you know there was a turn, maybe a few years ago, when people didn't want to talk about weight loss as much. Yeah, and I know it's a lot, I mean, I did it myself, I would. Then I'm a health and wellness coach. I'm still. You know, people are still. The goal is still to lose weight and change yourself and shrink and do all these things. But I'm now setting to a much softer, more like holistic 360 approach when, at the end of the day, I'm going to make you do the same things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's going to cost you double. Yeah, because it's health and wellness, yeah, so cough up. Yeah, everybody's fees are doubling now.
Speaker 2:Sorry guys um, so we can't touch on what it's turned into. I don't think it's turned. I think that's always been what it is yeah, I think wellness really.
Speaker 1:You know, I guess, if you go back historically like and you think about like different cultures because I mean yoga is not a british or an american thing, is it, like you know, the core kind of things probably are more spiritual and they are more like wellness being at one with the earth yeah, but not in a way that is gonna cost you 80 pounds for a pair of like yoga pants and or five grand on a yoga retreat yeah, yeah, or even worse, a silent retreat where you just go and you don't talk.
Speaker 1:I do think we should cash in on that, though.
Speaker 2:A silent retreat? Yeah, we just get to chat. We're just recording the podcast for the week. Everyone else is silent, just there. We're kind of doing it already. That's true. Okay, note it down.
Speaker 1:Silent retreat £5,000.
Speaker 2:Link in bio so Popular wellness trends.
Speaker 1:We might as well start with retreats, retreat.
Speaker 2:That has become a big thing. Retreat that has become a big thing. I think it was also a big thing just after Covid, when everyone could travel again. Yeah, there was a lot of like influence let's say, fitness influencers, wellness influencers, um advertising these retreats and ultimately, what they were selling was an all-inclusive holiday. Yeah, with them being the star of the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which I get. That's. That's what we're aiming for.
Speaker 2:That's what we're aiming for and people would want to come to that, but these retreats are promising you to find yourself or reconnect with nature, or be with like-minded people and reach this kind of nirvana.
Speaker 1:You don't need a retreat for that.
Speaker 2:No, you don't Just go to the pub. Yeah, just go to the pub with your friends. Touch the floor, feel the concrete under your foot. Bit of glass, wake you up, won't it?
Speaker 1:oh my god, I've got a new wellness trend. What this might be controversial, a few people have like been talking about this to me recently barefoot shoes look, this goes back to that caveman thing.
Speaker 2:I reckon if you said to the caveman do you want these nice pair of shoes to keep your feet safe and warm and dry, they would have been like yes, actually, that would be really useful. And now we're like wear these ugly flat slippers so your toes can spread out, and they're going to cost you £200. Yeah, £200. I just think, if you're going to do that, just take your shoes off and walk around barefoot, yeah.
Speaker 1:They are gross.
Speaker 2:They are gross.
Speaker 1:They are gross.
Speaker 2:I get you know, what makes me really sad is the parents that make their kids wear them. Those poor kids. They're walking around all like the family of four with these disgusting Especially when the toes are like defined.
Speaker 1:Like your toes, go into little slots.
Speaker 2:Call me crazy, but I don't think your toes are supposed to look like your fingers. Your toes go into little slots. Call me crazy, but I don't think your toes are supposed to look like your fingers. No, they're not. I just don't. I just don't. That's another thing we create these issues. It's kind of like what is wellness? It's like almost getting back to how we were in the past, the good old days, the good old days. It's like getting back to you know we're. You know less screen time, less blue light, explode exposure, less exposure to 5g like this isn't how humans are supposed to live but also spend 300 grand or 300 pounds or whatever on those red light masks oh yeah because actually like we need that yeah, we need that because you know Skin Wellness, yeah, but you know, none of these wellness things would exist without social media, the internet.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean yoga would exist, yeah, but you know the stuff, the retreats, the. You know all of the products and things. They are all being sold and promoted by the internet.
Speaker 2:Influencers, Influencers. I just think. I just laugh at the problems that are created by the people selling the Cinemagic solution. Like what's my favourite wellness trend? Coffee enemas. I'm so obsessed with enemas. I'm obsessed because I don't know why anyone would willingly voluntarily go and get that done.
Speaker 1:And I don't know why anybody willingly would set that up as a business where they're having to stick a tube up someone's bum and flush the poo out. People pay for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of money, Like if people are going to pay me a grand at a time to just do that after the first one, you'd be used to it, wouldn't you?
Speaker 1:It would be an issue. Well, I guess Shit is shit at the end of the day. Yeah, it's not something I want to be dealing with.
Speaker 2:But we create all these problems and we're just a never is the goal of wellness? The goal with dieting is very clear. Everyone understands that the ultimate goal is for everyone to be super thin, Like that is a goal of diet in the industry, right? What is, what's the final phase? What are you?
Speaker 1:hoping to achieve with this wellness journey. I mean you become some kind of like Gwyneth Paltrow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you wake up. Can I tell you a?
Speaker 1:fact about Gwyneth Paltrow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So Gwyneth Paltrow has curated a list of products that were recommended to her by her functional medicine practitioner which doctor To help ease the side effects or long-lasting effects of long COVID, and on this list it included a necklace that cost $8,600 to go hiking in.
Speaker 2:What did you find out? What the like why you needed that necklace for hiking. Like what that was it? Was it like a penknife or something?
Speaker 1:No, it was just. It was a necklace that had you know healing properties. Right, it was medicine in a necklace.
Speaker 2:But then it goes in. We also spoke about how wellness then kind of oozes into spirituality.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you know there's lots of people like the law of attraction stuff and I used to follow that a bit more that are then really into their wellness and all these healing things and it's like two of the same beast.
Speaker 1:I tried doing the law of attraction nothing ever came for me.
Speaker 2:Look, you've got to believe it's already happened. That's the key to manifesting. It's already here, okay, yeah wasn't a fan.
Speaker 1:Do it every day I can't be bothered.
Speaker 2:No, what's up next then?
Speaker 1:um. So next is the dark side of wellness. Take it away. Well, I mean, this was really interesting, I thought, because until we started talking about it I hadn't really thought about it. But all the conspiracies around wellness and what people are sold to combat them, and one of the big things is food is medicine. Yeah which is dangerous. Let's just put a disclosure here Food is not a substitute for medicine.
Speaker 2:No, is not a substitute for medicine. No and um, no approach to eating or diet in the world. Can you know sure proof you against any illness you know it might make your, your health? It could help, maybe improve things for you, but it's never going to completely, it's not going to fix stuff that needs to be treated with medicine. No, because surely if that was true, we we'd be all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no one would ever be ill no you're ill have some broccoli, oh thanks yeah, and don't get me wrong, I'm sure you know the pharmaceutical industry is very one of probably the most lucrative big farmer, yeah industries in the world. However, if you have cancer eating raw broccoli and a sprig of coriander whatever, that's not going to cure you.
Speaker 2:You need medical help and it's like that um, do you, did you ever hear about that? Is it? It Belle Ramsey.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, we watched the Netflix documentary.
Speaker 2:If you haven't watched it, watch it. But she was a grifter, yeah, but she was. She actually never had cancer, did she? No, but she said she did and she said she healed herself through food. And a lot of the stories were from the people who had followed her blog, had done, tried to do the same thing and was getting iller and iller, and this girl was getting more well.
Speaker 1:Making money from selling her cookbooks. Yeah, I think we could start a new podcast called the Grifters and just focus on a new grifter each week.
Speaker 2:Could be, a section Could be, or a whole episode in itself Brainstorm Grifters Love that. But a whole episode in itself brain stone grifters love that. But yeah, food is not medicine, it's not a replacement for medicine.
Speaker 1:Should we say no, like if you can afford and want to eat a more healthy, balanced diet, that probably is going to make you just generally feel a bit better, but it's not going to fix any of your medical problems really no, you need maybe a two-pronged approach.
Speaker 2:Yes, take your medicine, eat your vegetables.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's it, and this is a massive one. Vaccines wellness, those true wellness people.
Speaker 2:They are very anti-vaccines anti-vaxxers are also, like I mentioned just a minute ago, against all, like the wi-fi, um what they call, what the waves you know the things that the electrode man waves, and they probably don't have a microwave in their house and um, they took the 5g pylons. Um, what's the things that when their airplanes go over the top?
Speaker 1:chemtrails chemtrails.
Speaker 2:They're against sbf yes I just like maybe there are some, there's a little bit of science or to all these things that they then collate and use to like justify their things. But it's the responsibility of these influence spreading this misinformation or information that is just not backed in any way, shape or form is so dangerous yeah, what what are we trying to achieve? Ultimate wellness which I'm still not sure what it is immortality. By the sounds of it, it's a cult yeah, it is, I was just thinking true.
Speaker 1:Ultimate wellness would be that you live in the middle of nowhere, you know, you don't have a phone, you have no links to the outside world. Live off the ground, you live off the land of.
Speaker 2:Live off the land, you know that's a cult but then also if true wellness is about all the aspects of your health. What about, like, social health? Yeah, like having friends, seeing people learning new things, having different experiences. Yeah, cut yourself off from the world so not that well then you're just stuck in your own echo chamber and then you go into psychosis, then you're not well, you're not well, it's okay, because you just have a radish or something, yeah, and you'll be cured, yeah okay, okay, we should tell the NHS this.
Speaker 2:But I was thinking why hasn't anyone written in Like guys, I know how to solve the waiting lists? Yeah, just give everyone food, prescribe some celery. Yeah, they should have really thought about that.
Speaker 1:Maybe we'll write in after this. I think so For our local MP yeah. What else have we got? Some of the good parts of wellness, maybe. Yeah. I mean the good parts of wellness is it does make people perhaps evaluate what they're doing and maybe just make a few changes, yeah, to make themselves a bit happier yeah, which again is very similar to just any health and fitness advice, isn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, I don't think really what we spoke about last week, which was like food and nutrition, obviously there's the like fitness side and stuff and more, but I mean it all just goes together, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:it does, it does.
Speaker 1:But you can make more money when you separate it all out yeah and create more problems yeah, basically wellness is creating a problem and somebody coming up with a product or a service to fix that yeah, that you spend your money on I wonder we should have already done this research, like when wellness gained popularity.
Speaker 2:Because not, it's not been around, like obviously wellness as a concept has, but the way it's been like marketed and capitalized on, when did that really boom?
Speaker 1:when did lulu lemon come out?
Speaker 2:with this constant need and desire just to be more. It's not. Is it to be more? Is it to? Is it to what? Like? This is the thing, I don't what we're all striving for.
Speaker 1:Perfection, ah, perfection, yeah yeah, if I go to yoga three days a week. Drink collagen yeah, have a natural spf. Go to a yoga retreat and that correlates with success.
Speaker 2:If I can do these things, I'll be successful. I'll have a nice house. I'll meet a rich husband, yeah, or a rich man, maybe he is a husband, any meeting. But whatever it's like, what is what do you get through living this lifestyle? And it tends to be those traditional aspirational goals of life?
Speaker 1:do you think wellness is also like. One day you've got a group of women, one woman somehow gets into wellness. Everyone else feels a bit shit about themselves, so then they all go well, I'm gonna get into wellness, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, and then it's almost like a competition between who is the wellest the wellest of the well, the wellest of the well I just think if you've got a to-do list as long as your arm to maintain your wellness you're not.
Speaker 2:Well, you're one, yeah, no, you're not, you're not it's such a funny when you really think about it. It's a quite a funny ridiculous concept, isn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, I wonder if anybody expected us to be a bit more serious about this.
Speaker 2:Absolutely not?
Speaker 1:No, I hope not.
Speaker 2:No, oh sorry, Betty. Yeah, we don't buy into it all.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:We have, I have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have. And you know, don't get me wrong, even now, sometimes it'll get me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's got you recently in the wellness industry? Do you think have I spoke about anything? Maybe like the saunas and the cold plunges and I, and I think they're so like um, is it heat therapy or whatever it's called? After recovery and I think those, those aspects of like cold plunges, um hot cold therapy, which has been proven for years to work with athletes and to recover, it then gets like trendy to do those things.
Speaker 2:That's just like a normal human being who maybe runs a couple of times a week yeah and then that's another aspect of wellness which is kind of brought in a bit, and if you're not doing this, you're not a proper runner, you're not professional. I feel like wellness has a sense of being professional about health. Yeah, like taking it seriously yeah like you're.
Speaker 1:You're doing all the things you're a professional health yeah, yeah, wellness wanker yeah yeah, I mean I, I do actually like. I like the saunas because it's just well chill. You sit there, you don't have your phone.
Speaker 2:Wellness that is wellness, do you chill?
Speaker 1:yeah, like I don't really like the cold plunge they've got like the one that I go to. They've got three now and I like the warmer, ambient one. The bath yeah, I love a bath. I just like sitting in some lukewarm water. But you know it is, it's pretty chill. Um, that's what I like about it.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say I'd do it for the recovery yeah I do it because it's quite chill and you don't have your phone yeah but it is definitely sold as a wellness thing and a lot of people I know clients and such feel put off going to the saunas that I go to. That are down the road because they see on the social media the people who like pictures of them and stuff and they're like that's not for me because they're all young and thin and fit so they're excluded.
Speaker 2:I actually felt know I did. I felt that about that place because I saw who was going there and I was like, oh God, I wouldn't want to be sat with them. But when you go there it's not like that. No, not at all.
Speaker 1:I was actually pleasantly surprised by their choice of furniture yeah, lots of wicker, but it's interesting that that is what they use on their social media to portray what they want, what they are, and that is clearly the kind of clientele that they maybe want. Yeah, they want good looking thin.
Speaker 2:Well, people but, like I said that also, then the connotation of people like that is that they have money, yeah, and obviously that place needs to make money, yeah, and that is a luxury to be able to afford to go. It is a luxury. And use that sauna, afford to go, it is a luxury yeah. And use that sauna, use the ice baths. So why wouldn't you advertise it to people who have a similar mind, similar lifestyle? Niche or no niche.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so another thing that you brought up was about wellness being quite gendered. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because when I think about wellness, I think about a middle-class white woman. Yeah, I feel I think about a woman showing me a recipe or their morning routine. I never really hear men speak about wellness, using the word wellness, and we were talking about how well, what, what does wellness look like from a man's perspective? And we kind of use the example of like men being obsessed with going back to like their primal ways, like crawling around on the floor, like was it, was it called? Like there's this thing where men are really big at the minute on like using all fours to crawl around, on, yeah, and like the angry breath work of like finding your inner beast and animal and like grunting at each other and and like pushing and fighting each other and that, to them, is the wellness and being in their masculine energy. And what did I say? Basically trying to get women to shag them? Yeah, yeah, and being more masculine and naturally raising their testosterone levels seems to be a really big thing. I'm on a real weird side of TikTok and Instagram, I think.
Speaker 1:You really are. Are you on this side? No, I haven't actually been on TikTok for ages and I haven't really looked much at my explore page on Instagram, so mine's a lot of heavy breathing men.
Speaker 2:How did you get there? I think I just maybe connect with yeah, this is your true self maybe that's actually why wellness doesn't appeal to me, so I'm not doing it that way yeah, you're crawling around on all fours like catch me at my heavy breathing retreat. Yeah, and they seem to be into barefoot shoes. A lot of men I know who are kind of that way inclined and I'm by that way inclined, I mean into their wellness yeah wear barefoot shoes, okay, because it's like not cool to have bent feet no, and you must spread your toes wide.
Speaker 1:Oh, go back to how we used to be do you know?
Speaker 2:what else I hate are those socks that look like gloves yeah, toe socks, and they often will be living underneath a barefoot shoe. Well, of course. Well, why would your socks squish your toes together if your shoes are gonna let them breathe?
Speaker 1:I mean, how weird would that feel putting each toe into a tiny little sleeve? Yeah, yeah we're boycotting barefoot shoes yes, we are sorry, everybody who likes them. Um, yeah, wellness for men, and I just kind of get the vibe that men who are into you know actual the white woman wellness. They just seem a bit predatory for me, like they are almost seeking out vulnerable women that probably, deep down inside them, have some like self-esteem issues because they're on this quest for wellness it's giving cult leader mass wedding yeah, young brides it's giving.
Speaker 1:I'm into tantric sex. Yeah, calamari, I love calamari tea. It is my favorite tantric sex calamari.
Speaker 2:That sounds like a good night, if you ask me well, well, yeah, they've been on a self discovery journey in Thailand and lived with the monks in Nepal. For are monks in Nepal?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean, that's not Thailand, though no, but like on their travels.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, they've travelled the world they've travelled the world, you? They've travelled the world, you know, with just their backpack and their notebook, finding themselves. They've grown out their man bun. They're vlogging every day yeah, always in khaki shorts combat khaki shorts. Topless Sandals, yeah, or barefoot shoes or no shoes at all yeah, um, and really being at one of nature, taking magic mushrooms, drinking their own piss probably.
Speaker 1:They're probably microdosing something, definitely something.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that's kind of wellness for a man yeah, what do you think, betty?
Speaker 1:what's wellness for a pug this? Yeah, betty's very hungry she's starving. She tried to steal my cheese sandwich yeah, she's been eating dirt from the garden. That's wellness for her it's good for you. Thin is in, apparently, so yeah, um, so do you have let's rephrase this Ria and Amber's top tips to live your best well. Life you go first. Well, I mean, if I'm going to be serious about this, Sure, not sure.
Speaker 2:that's why people are here.
Speaker 1:Sure. Unfollow wellness influencers on your social media. Don't let those people make you feel bad, just get rid of them. That goes for anyone on your social media. Don't let those people make you feel bad, just get rid of them that goes for anyone on your social media, I think like a true wellness tip yeah, unfollow the people that make you feel rubbish yeah or if you, just if it triggers something in you unfollow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some people think these people motivate them, but actually they're demotivating them yeah because it seems so far away what they're selling you that you kind of think what's the point of starting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And often it's like because what they're selling you is fictional. Yeah, their life doesn't probably look like that at all. I don't think it does for most of these people no, me, neither wellness tip would be and I said that this before is if something is causing you more stress, then it is relieving stress or making you feel better. Cut that shit out.
Speaker 2:things that are good for you sometimes might be hard, but they shouldn't make you feel worse yeah, I think that's very important and I think we've been led to believe for such a long time that the struggle is where you should struggle and no pain, no gain, all these toxic sayings. But actually it should make you feel better, yours. What's your next one? My?
Speaker 1:next top tip would be wellness shouldn't be expensive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wellness should be accessible, because everyone deserves to feel well. Yeah, and that looks different for everyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you should not have to spend £100 for a monthly subscription to something to be well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wtf. That's actually a really interesting point. Wellness does cost, yeah, but then they'll go, but if you really cared about yourself and your health you would find that money and you'd give up something else.
Speaker 1:But what if you're a single?
Speaker 2:parent yeah.
Speaker 1:Living in social housing, you know, with two children, and all of your money goes on just your general day-to-day life.
Speaker 2:You can't get rid of anything else no, I know and I think to care about your wellness and to participate in the wellness movement probably means you've got spare time on your hands, yeah, and enough time to even consider these things yeah, yeah, this is the thing, isn't it?
Speaker 1:a lot of people they do not have the time to consider wellness.
Speaker 2:It's not on their radar, mine's just like surviving, some like not to be dramatic but like sometimes just like the bare minimum, yeah, so I don't feel like absolute garbage do you have any like things that you do that you wouldn't necessarily call wellness, but make you feel good about yourself? Not sure if this completely fits in to the question, but I really enjoy turning my phone off in the evening and reading a book before I go to sleep.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think turning your phone off is a really important one.
Speaker 2:It's hard because everything I do is from my phone, but I love not having my phone and being absorbed into something else. I think that's really good for the mind yeah.
Speaker 2:I think so, and it's not practical to say you should never have your phone, because so much of what we do is on our phones now, from our banking to paying for things, to contacting bloody hell. Signing up for something when you have to scan a qr code, ordering food at a restaurant, yeah, but when you can, I think just not being on social media, not being on your phone, not doom scrolling, is really nice mine is having a bath yeah, bit of me time I love having a bath.
Speaker 1:In the winter, I probably have a bath every day. Yeah, I mean, that is quite elitist, isn't it? Because having a bath does cost money. Yeah, but I love having a bath. I feel like it's the one time that I just lay there and I'm chilled out because I'm in hot water and I'm just there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I am on my phone, but I do feel like that is quite relaxing for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And makes me feel good. Yeah, I mean sometimes wellness is having a beige buffet. Yeah, I really enjoyed my pizza breads, my crisps, the vegan chicken thing you got me I mean I'm just thinking about what I'm gonna eat next, because on this podcast I can't eat because of the we could do some like um food asmr I don't think people people love that.
Speaker 2:I think another tip for wellness is finding something you actually enjoy, and maybe the biggest tip of all is to fuck it off. Yeah, because I think it's a made-up thing. Live your life.
Speaker 2:Live your life like don't worry about it yeah like to be well, to do all this self-care, to have that why you're. Everyone's gonna die and I guarantee you in your deathbed, if you're lucky enough to be on a deathbed and you don't just suddenly die sorry god, that's a 50 that really came from within you're not going to be thinking about how much more well you could have been, maybe like if I'd have just done that green juice detox. You know. You're not worried about it. Stop spending and wasting your money on this shit.
Speaker 1:And if you do have some spare money, a really good wellness tip is have some therapy. I thought you were going to say, give it to us and give it to us, this is your therapy. But yeah, I mean, you know, if you are unhappy about things and you know you are unsatisfied with life and all of that stuff, if you've got the money, find a good therapist and have a bit of therapy, because talking about stuff is helpful yeah, you can't buy your way out of sadness or depression or lack of clarity sometimes, can you?
Speaker 2:no, you've really and this kind of goes into the coaches and the gurus out there that have come from this wellness space and I'm like what can they actually teach you that you can't A, learn yourself from a book or B that therapy couldn't maybe solve for you or let you think of? Yeah, god, do you want to hear a confession? Confession, yeah, I actually wanted to be a life coach, did you? I? I briefly did actually change my instagram. Wow, I. I was like proper into self development, because that kind of comes into wellness.
Speaker 1:that is wellness yeah, yeah, like god, we've opened up a new door.
Speaker 2:We have constant self-development and improvement. Yeah, I actually took a picture of my bookshelf, of all my old books on the other day. I'll read you the titles, um, of some of the books. So we've got book yourself solid. How to create a business. Yeah, level up. What's the next one? Mind your, your Business was the next one. Okay, atomic Habits Okay, psycho-cybernetics Rich as Fuck, more money than you know what to do with. I've got Stephen Bartlett in the room with me.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, the Monk who Sold His Ferrari. The Magic by Rhonda Byrne. How to Win Friends and Influence People. This is the worst one. Jordan B Peterson 12 Rules for Life. What were the 12 rules? Fuck, I didn't finish it. I was a toxic alpha male. I was Andrew Tate. Before Andrew Tate came on the scene yeah, sounds like it actually, and I stopped reading self-help books. Did they help you? I've done alright, maybe they did, but it was just constant. I was probably annoying to talk to you back then, even more so than now. What have you got up there?
Speaker 1:um, skincare skincare, which I've never read. Let me have a little look. Um, I mean, the books on the bottom is when I was doing my counselling degree.
Speaker 2:I was reading a while, you really went deep into them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rescuing the Inner Child. Object Relations Theory, the Therapeutic Relationship, but what have I got? That is a self-help book.
Speaker 2:There definitely is the making of a manager oh my, and that's the only book you needed and you're the only book I need in life yeah, but I mean I definitely have brought a lot of self-help books in the past.
Speaker 1:yeah, but I mean I'm the sort of person that thinks it'll help me and I can't be bothered to read them anyway. So you just spend your money on, I just spend my money. I don't buy books anymore because I know that I won't read them.
Speaker 2:Where did we get? Yeah, so that was my confession for your life Coach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were Andrew Tate.
Speaker 2:I don't think there's accusation.
Speaker 1:I don't think I you know you said it, I did, but like, yes, you weren't quite so. I mean, you didn't hate women, no, quite the opposite.
Speaker 2:Quite the opposite, as we found out earlier.
Speaker 1:Yes, I don't know if there's much more to say about wellness.
Speaker 2:Today I feel quite wellnessed out yeah, I think it's one of those things where it's hard to talk about just wellness because it's so deeply ingrained and there's so many other factors, variables, facets to it, and you can get wellness fatigue. Yeah, you can get wellness fatigue. I want to rot in bed sometimes. Yeah, that's my tip. Allow yourself some brain rot time. Yeah, everyone else is doing it, you can do it too In the winter.
Speaker 1:Get a heated blanket, an electric one. Put a TV in your bedroom, yep, and just lay in bed watching the American Office. Hibernate, yep. That's a good wellness tip. Hibernation, yeah.
Speaker 2:For the whole of winter. Well, really, if you're going to look at cyclical living, it's in the colder months. We should slow down, mm-hmm, spend less time outside, recuperating, getting ready for the spring, fattening ourselves up. Exactly that's what the cave people would have done. Yeah, they would. They wouldn't be walking around in barefoot shoes.
Speaker 1:No, they'd just be barefoot.
Speaker 2:Exactly On that note, we're going to call it a day because, yeah, what have we got coming up next week? Do we even know? I have no idea, because we were going to give the listeners an option, but we haven't.
Speaker 1:No, but we've got time, we've got a week, yeah but we should probably tell people what we're going to do so they know what they're coming back to. Yeah, so let's decide, live on the pod.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did decide.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I gave you a couple of options you said either you can't win or body confidence slash, body image dysmorphia. I feel like we should. It's episode 10. It's a big one I think we should.
Speaker 2:Body image, body dysmorphia. Let's do that, because who hasn't had issues with those things?
Speaker 1:everybody. I can't imagine there's a single person, even the most confident people. There's something that they don't like about themselves. Yeah, that's why they're on this quest for wellness and thinness.
Speaker 2:Wow, Okay. Well, there we go Next week for episode 10. We've done it 10 episodes.
Speaker 1:We've done it.
Speaker 2:We've done it. Episode is going to be body image slash, body dysmorphia the big discussion, big discussion. We can't have a better title, but that's what we're going to be talking about. Are we going to do a giveaway? Yeah, we'll give away the rest of this hummus.
Speaker 1:Possibly, maybe a few breadsticks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we'll do a giveaway. The giveaway is going to be a surprise, because we haven't decided that yet no, but it'll be some good shit we've got a few toilet rolls over there what we would love for you to do and this would mean the world to us is to share the shit out of these podcast episodes. If you like an episode, share it on your. To share the shit out of these podcast episodes. If you like an episode, share it on your stories.
Speaker 1:Tag us in it, so we can like retweet, Retweet.
Speaker 2:No, we can re-share, re-share the story, spread the word, because how this is going to grow and how we're going to improve and be able to give you more and more stuff is if we get eyes and ears on this podcast yeah, and tell people about it.
Speaker 1:We want you know if you like it and you want us to keep making it. We do need some. We need some brand deals. Yep, we need some more listeners.
Speaker 2:So tag, brands, tag all the brands yeah, we need your support and it's free to do that and it's very much appreciated. Yeah, we will love you forever forever and ever yeah, rate and review this podcast. We've got five reviews so far, all five stars. Yeah, I think that's it. I think that's it. That's all you need to do this week. Share the shit out of the podcast and come back next week for episode 10. Episode 10 I think that's it, I think that's it.
Speaker 1:That's all you need to do this week Share the shit out of the podcast and come back next week for episode 10. Episode 10, which is going to be big the big discussion and vulnerable, yeah, because we're going to have to give our personal views on this. That's what we're here for stripping it back being real.
Speaker 2:We are real we are real. The realest of the real. Yeah, alright, then angels, see you next week bye.